PINELLAS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL F. CASTLE, CASTLE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY AND MIKE CASTLE CORPORATION, APPELLEES

Fla. | 1980-09-25
No. 54452
SUNDBERG, C. J., and ADKINS, BOYD, ENGLAND, ALDERMAN and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.
392 So. 2d 1292 Florida Supreme Court (1980) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed a trial court's judgment declaring Pinellas County's Uniform Consumer Protection Act unconstitutional, holding that the special act is valid and supplementary to Florida's statewide Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The court rejected arguments that the local act conflicted with state law, violated due process and access to courts, violated equal protection, and constituted an unlawful delegation of legislative authority.


Holding

The court held that the Pinellas County special act is constitutional and valid supplementary legislation. The act does not conflict with the statewide Little FTC Act because section 501.213 explicitly provides that the state act is supplemental and does not preempt local consumer protection ordinances not inconsistent with it. The act provides adequate access to courts through certiorari review and declaratory judgment actions, satisfies equal protection by applying equally to all Pinellas County residents, and contains sufficient legislative standards to avoid unlawful delegation.


Headnotes

[1] A statewide consumer protection act does not preempt local consumer protection laws or ordinances that are not inconsistent with the general act.

[2] Remedies provided by a statewide consumer protection act are in addition to remedies otherwise available under state or local law.

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Key Quotes

“The remedies of this part are in addition to remedies otherwise available for the same conduct under state or local law... This part is supplemental to, and makes no attempt to preempt, local consumer protection ordinances not inconsistent with this part.”

Establishes that Florida's Little FTC Act explicitly contemplates and permits supplementary local consumer protection ordinances.

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Facts & Procedural History

The Pinellas County Consumer Affairs Office charged Michael Castle with unfair and deceptive trade practices under chapter 76-471, Laws of Florida, a …

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Opinion of the Court
OVERTON, Justice.

OVERTON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a final judgment of the circuit court holding unconstitutional a special act, chapter 76-471, Laws of Florida, as amended by chapter 77 -639, creating the Uniform Consumer Protection Act of Pinellas County. We have jurisdiction.1 We find the act constitutional and reverse.

The appellee Castle was charged with various acts constituting unfair and deceptive trade practices by the Pinellas County Consumer Affairs Office under the authority of the subject special act. Castle thereupon filed a declaratory judgment action in circuit court, seeking to have the special act creating the Uniform Consumer Protection Act of Pinellas County declared unconstitutional.

The trial court, in declaring the consumer protection act of Pinellas County unconstitutional, found that (1) the Pinellas County special act was unenforceable because it was in conflict with the general law providing for statewide consumer protection, specifically Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Law, chapter 501, Florida Statutes (1977); (2) the special act denied sufficient access to the courts and due process of law; (3) the act denied equal protection since it applied only to citizens in a limited geographic area; and (4) the special act was an unlawful delegation of legislative authority.

In 1973 the Florida Legislature enacted the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, known as Florida’s Little FTC Act, to apply statewide as set forth in chapter 501, Florida Statutes (1977). The appel-lee Castle, in asserting the unconstitutionality of the Pinellas County special act, cites a number of differences between it and the Little FTC Act. It is contended that because the special act provisions are inconsistent and irreconcilable with those of the general act, the general act prevails and the special act must be stricken.

Although one of the purposes of the “Little FTC Act” was to simplify and clarify the law governing consumer sales practices, it was not intended to preempt local consumer protection laws or ordinances. Specifically, section 501.213 of the Little FTC Act provides:

(1) The remedies of this part are in addition to remedies otherwise available for the same conduct under state or local law.

(2) This part is supplemental to, and makes no attempt to preempt, local consumer protection ordinances not inconsistent with this part.

[Emphasis supplied.]

We find that the inconsistencies alleged are without merit. The Pinellas County consumer protection act does not adversely affect the Florida Little FTC Act. When read together, the acts can be harmonized to accomplish the legislative purpose of consumer protection.

Principal among those inconsistencies found by the trial court to require the special act to be declared invalid were the provisions providing access to the courts. The Little FTC Act grants the enforcing authority, the Department of Legal Affairs, the power to issue cease-and-desist orders. It provides for direct review of such orders by the district courts of appeal in accordance with the Florida Administrative Procedure Act. § 120.68, Fla.Stat. (1977). Further, under the Little FTC Act a party has the right to stay the administrative proceeding and have it removed to the circuit court for trial. § 501.2091, Fla.Stat. (1977).

In contrast, the special act provides for review by common law certiorari in the circuit court. There is no provision for removal of the proceeding to the circuit court. Appellees contend that the special act thus denies access to the courts to those parties within its purview.

The special act expressly states that the Pinellas board can enforce its decisions only by filing an action for a declaratory judgment in the circuit court. Any final action under the special act can thus arise only after hearing in the circuit court. Parties cited under the special act are thus provided with two means of access to eourts-the declaratory judgment action and common law certiorari. This means of access to the courts is sufficient to withstand constitutional attack.

Both the special act and general act provide a means for court access and judicial review; the presence of distinct methods of review is not fatal to the special act. Cer-tiorari review comports with constitutional due process and court access requirements. Vargas v. Americana of Bal Harbour, 345 So. 2d 1052 (Fla.1976); Scholastic Systems, Inc. v. Leloup, 307 So. 2d 166 (Fla.1974).

The trial court also found, consistent with the appellees’ allegations, that the act was unconstitutional on equal protection grounds because it unfairly singled out Pi-nellas citizens from the state population and subjected this limited class to the Pinel-las act. If adopted, this argument would substantially restrict special laws and city or county ordinances, which in turn would severely hamper the power of local governments to govern. County and city ordinances necessarily apply only to citizens within a limited geographic area of the state. So long as this Pinellas County consumer protection act applies equally to all persons in Pinellas County, then the equal protection clause is satisfied. Pinellas County Veterinary Medical Society, Inc. v. Chapman, 224 So. 2d 307 (Fla.1969).

Finally, appellees contend that the act is unconstitutional because the legislature has provided insufficient guidelines in defining the conduct proscribed by the act and has further failed to describe the method of operation under the act. This unlawful delegation assault upon the special act is virtually identical to the unsuccessful challenge raised against the Little FTC Act in Department of Legal Affairs v. Rogers, 329 So. 2d 257 (Fla.1976), a decision which we recently reaffirmed in Askew v. Cross Key Waterways, 372 So. 2d 913 (Fla.1978). We find there are adequate standards limiting the discretion of the Pinellas County Department of Consumer Affairs under the provisions of the act.

We find that the legislature, in enacting the Little FTC Act, foresaw the passage of supplementary local consumer legislation or ordinances. Chapter 76 471, as amended by chapter 77 639, creating the Pinellas County Department of Consumer Affairs, is valid supplementing legislation. We reverse the order of the trial court holding this special act unconstitutional.

It is so ordered.

SUNDBERG, C. J., and ADKINS, BOYD, ENGLAND, ALDERMAN and MCDONALD, JJ., concur. . Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla.Const. (1972).


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  • Delgado v. J.W. Courtesy Pontiac Gmc-Truck, Inc., 693 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)
    …lely to a product or service purchased in a consumer transaction infected with unfair or deceptive trade practices or acts. Other Florida courts have agreed with each of these assessments. In Pinellas County Department of Consumer Affairs v. Castle, 392 So. 2d 1292, 1293 (Fla.1980), the supreme court emphasized that the remedies of the FDUTPA “are in addition ” to other remedies available under state or local law. In Suris v. Gilmore Liquidating, Inc., 651 So. 2d 1282, 1283 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), the court applie…
  • Ira Shay & Shalev Corp. v. First Fed. OF Miami, Inc., 429 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)
    …tion. Appellants misapprehend the focus of that provision. Courts- scrutinize carefully actions taken by the legislature which may place impermissible burdens on a complainant’s access to the courts. Pinellas County Dept. Consumer Affairs v. Castle, 392 So. 2d 1292 (Fla.1980); Aldana v. Holub, 381 So. 2d 231 (Fla.1980); Overland Construction Co., Inc. v. Sirmons, 369 So. 2d 572 (Fla.1979); Scholastic Systems, Inc. v. LeLoup, 307 So. 2d 166 (Fla.1974); Miami-Dade Water & Sewer Authority v. Cormio, 388 So. 2d 12…
  • Furmanite Am., Inc. v. T.D. Williamson, Inc., 506 F. Supp. 2d 1134 (M.D. Fla. 2007)
    …d court costs. § 501.211(2), Fla. Stat. The Florida Supreme Court has emphasized that the remedies of the FDUT-PA “are in addition” to other remedies available under state or local law. Pinellas County Department of Consumer Affairs v. Castle, 392 So.2d 1292, 1293 (Fla.1980). A practice is unfair under FDUT-PA if it offends established public policy, is immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous, or substantially injurious to consumers. Suris v. Gilmore Liquidating, Inc., 651 So.2d 1282, 1283 (F…

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